1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to photography, and more specifically to cameras and methods that use a reference exposed on film in a camera to facilitate subsequent printer adjustments. The invention has particular utility for correcting color balance degraded by environmental effects during storage of the film before and after its exposure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to expose film in a camera with information pertaining to the photographic event. Examples include titles, time and date stamps, information regarding the number of prints desired (Iwashita et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,310),and information regarding the desired aspect ratio for "tele,""pan" or normal prints (Harvey U.S. Pat. No. 5,204,707).
It also is known to expose the film with information that can be used later by a printer to adjust its color balance. Oguchi et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,560, issued Jan. 8, 1980, discloses an optical diffuser in a camera that exposes the film to a patch of illumination integrated over essentially the entire scene. The exposed patch is used during printing to balance three complementary illumination sources so they print the patch as a neutral gray. Stemme U.S. Pat. No. 4,344,683, issued Aug. 17, 1982, discloses a camera that prints a test pattern within the exposure frame for determining if any picture blur occurred when the film was in the camera or during printing. The pattern is developed and printed within the margins of the final print, and may include three zones exposed to luminous diodes of different colors. The zones can be used as a ready check for color filtering during printing. Disbrow U.S. Pat. No. 4,365,882, issued Dec. 28, 1982, discloses an aerial camera including a device for exposing the film to color references typical of healthy crops. The references are exposed, developed and printed adjacent to the crop images and are compared to the images for identifying the condition of the crops.